Have decided to finally bite the bullet and add Raytheon radar to my 1981 37' Cutter. Mounting the 18" radome just below the spreaders. Has anyone successfully ran the radar wiring down the mast without pulling it. I've read everything I could find in the archives about it and found one post where a 3/4" hole was drilled on the forward section of the mast then the with a penlight the the wiring channel was located and a long 1/2" bit was used to carefully drill a hole in the channel. A fishtape was run down said hole to the base of the mast where a string and new radar cable was pulled up the mast. Sounds like a good plan but has anyone tried this on the 37' cutter. Purchased the color radar/chartplotter for the nav. station and intend to get the cheaper monochrome to mount at the pedestal. Charles s/v Destiny
- Status
- Not open for further replies.
D
Daniel Jonas
Radar
Charles, Don't know the answer to the wire run question, we did ours mast down. But, I would put the color unit at the pedastal. We had a monochrome out there on our last boat and sold it after a year to replace it with color. To hard to see in the daylight. Dan Jonas (S/V Feije II)
Charles, Don't know the answer to the wire run question, we did ours mast down. But, I would put the color unit at the pedastal. We had a monochrome out there on our last boat and sold it after a year to replace it with color. To hard to see in the daylight. Dan Jonas (S/V Feije II)
F
Frank Walker
Give it a Try
Charles, I did just about what you described. I think that it worked pretty well. My boat is an 88 Hunter 30. Drilled a hole in the front of the mast, and then one in the PVC internal pipe. Carefully so as not do cut any existing wiring. Cut the radar cable and used a fish tape to pull the free end of the radar cable down the mast. A little tedious but a lot easier than pulling the stick. I located my mount just below the lower spreaders as it makes a handy place to sit if you ever have to trouble shoot. If you are at the Preto Marina tell "MOVE" Frank from Calculatin said Hello.
Charles, I did just about what you described. I think that it worked pretty well. My boat is an 88 Hunter 30. Drilled a hole in the front of the mast, and then one in the PVC internal pipe. Carefully so as not do cut any existing wiring. Cut the radar cable and used a fish tape to pull the free end of the radar cable down the mast. A little tedious but a lot easier than pulling the stick. I located my mount just below the lower spreaders as it makes a handy place to sit if you ever have to trouble shoot. If you are at the Preto Marina tell "MOVE" Frank from Calculatin said Hello.
C
Chuck Wayne
adding radar
Charles, I can't help with the mast, we did ours down too. I would second Dan's suggestion, put the color on the pedastal-it's much better than the monochrome when you're in the soup, and if you add the chartplotter it's great
Charles, I can't help with the mast, we did ours down too. I would second Dan's suggestion, put the color on the pedastal-it's much better than the monochrome when you're in the soup, and if you add the chartplotter it's great
A
Alan J
Radar Mount
I have an '85 H37C and I mounted my radar with the mast up. I drilled a hole to pass the connector thru and covered it with one of those clam shell covers after putting chaffe protection on the wire. I drilled another hole near the base of the mast, sent a messenger line down and fished the cable out. I mounted my SL70 at the wheel and needed to order extra cable(much cheaper to order the unit with the extra length cable originally. Depending on how you will use the radar,a back stay mount may be a better choice. I sailed VALHALLA to Bermuda last year and much of the time I was healed over and lost much of my coverage. Next time, I'll mount my on the aft stay an forget about this issue.
I have an '85 H37C and I mounted my radar with the mast up. I drilled a hole to pass the connector thru and covered it with one of those clam shell covers after putting chaffe protection on the wire. I drilled another hole near the base of the mast, sent a messenger line down and fished the cable out. I mounted my SL70 at the wheel and needed to order extra cable(much cheaper to order the unit with the extra length cable originally. Depending on how you will use the radar,a back stay mount may be a better choice. I sailed VALHALLA to Bermuda last year and much of the time I was healed over and lost much of my coverage. Next time, I'll mount my on the aft stay an forget about this issue.
C
Charles
Wiring channel
Alan, did you run the wire through the wiring channel that I'm told is behind the sail track or did you run it through the large section with the halyards. Not sure if it makes a big difference but it seems like it would be much easier in the large section as long as you did'nt foul the halyards. Charles s/v Destiny
Alan, did you run the wire through the wiring channel that I'm told is behind the sail track or did you run it through the large section with the halyards. Not sure if it makes a big difference but it seems like it would be much easier in the large section as long as you did'nt foul the halyards. Charles s/v Destiny
D
Dave Simpson
Mast wiring
When it came time to mount the radome on our 37c, like you, we put it just below the spreaders. For the cable though, I went directly into the mast cavity, with 10" cable ties at 120-degree angles every 4-feet as standoffs, and out a 1" hole under the sole and thence to the pedestal. The wiring conduit in our boat is full.....really questionable whether you could easily get the 12-or-so conductor cable in, down & out. Also, it seems that if there is a cable crossing the mast at right-angles to the halyards, there might be a chafe prolem over time.
When it came time to mount the radome on our 37c, like you, we put it just below the spreaders. For the cable though, I went directly into the mast cavity, with 10" cable ties at 120-degree angles every 4-feet as standoffs, and out a 1" hole under the sole and thence to the pedestal. The wiring conduit in our boat is full.....really questionable whether you could easily get the 12-or-so conductor cable in, down & out. Also, it seems that if there is a cable crossing the mast at right-angles to the halyards, there might be a chafe prolem over time.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.